Grammy taps to Indian duo's tune

The three Indians in the Grammy nominees list - Anoushka Shankar, Asha Bhonsle and monk Ngawang Tashi Bapu -might not have brought the trophy home, but there is one Indian duo whose foot-tapping music has brought the Grammy for the group Black Eyed Peas. It's the famous Indian duo Kalyanji-Anandji.

Here is how: The group Black Eyed Peas has won the Grammy Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group for their song Don't Phunk With My Heart from the album, Monkey Business.

The track puts together two compositions of Kalyanji-Anandji, sung by Asha Bhonsle - Yeh mera dil pyar ka diwana from the film Don and Ae naujawaan hai sab kuchh yahaan from the film Apradh!

Nothing illegal about this as the group has formally acquired the rights to create their track using the Kalyanji-Anandji compositions. For those who have not heard the catchy number, the track begins with opening musical bars of the Don chartbuster. The rest of the song follows the entire structure of the song from the film, Apradh.

And this is how the official credits on the Grammy Awards nominees list reads:
Don't Phunk With My HeartWilliam Adams, Printz Board, Stacy Ferguson & George Pajon, Jr., songwriters; (Kalyanji Anandji, Full Force & Indeewar, songwriters) (The Black Eyed Peas)Track from: Monkey Business

The other Indians in the fray have not won any Grammy honours. Anoushka Shankar, Asha Bhonsle and the Buddhist monk Ngawang Tashi Bapu had been nominated.

Anoushka won the nomination for the second time. She was shortlisted for her album Rise in the Contemporary World Music category. Earlier, she had been nominated in the year 2003. Though she did not win the Grammy, her half-sister Norah Jones bagged 7 Grammys that year.

The evergreen singer Asha Bhonsle was also nominated a second time at the Grammys. She had been voted for her album with Kronos Quartet, You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs From RD Burman’s Bollywood in the Best Contemporary World Music Album. Bhonsle had earlier been nominated for her album Legacy, along with Ustad Ali Akbar

Monk Ngawang Tashi Bapu had made it to the list of nominees Grammys with his album Tibetan Master Chants, in the Best Traditional World Music category.

Indians who have bagged the Grammy earlier:

Pt Ravi Shanker in 1997 for his album, Concert for Bangla Desh. The album was a collaboration of more than 8 other artistes.

His disciple Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also won the Grammy in 1994. Bhatt was also nominated in 1997.